


Feverfew

by tromana



Series: Behind Closed Doors [2]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Gen, One Shot, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-05
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:46:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tromana/pseuds/tromana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feverfew

**Author's Note:**

> Written for watchyouwalk. Part two of Behind Closed Doors.

Katniss sits in the center of her painfully white cell, staring out into space. It's deathly quiet and she doesn't know whether she likes or hates it. Noise, at least, provides her with ample distraction from her current predicament. But silence, silence allows her to try and think things through. However, thinking can let her mind go into overdrive; it _encourages_ the demons to come out and play.

And Katniss has never reacted all too well to the silent treatment. Unless there's a cause for it, of course, like when she's hunting.

Three hours ago, though she cannot be sure of the passage of time in this timeless space, she had been installed in this cell. She'd spent her first hour investigating every nook and cranny, testing the bars to the window and the doors. The window, she'd surmised, was to remind her of what was on the other side. Freedom. She'd tried desperately to find some way to escape, to reclaim the freedom that she deserves. However, her efforts had all been in vain. This cell, this cage, is foolproof. There is no way for her to go in or out, not unless _they_ choose for her to.

That's why she's now waiting in silence, for something, _anything_ to happen.

Eventually, her patience pays off.

She can hear the screams echoing down the hallway. Johanna, she presumes. Katniss knows that the District 7 victor was captured at the same time as her. However, since being whisked to the Capitol, she hasn't seen hide nor hair of her. In fact, this is the first time she's heard her in nearly a month.

After all, she's been staying in her old rooms in the Training Center. There, she's been regularly visited by Caesar Flickerman, by her old prep team, even President Snow on one memorable occasion. Each tried desperately to persuade her to behave, to bend to their whims, to record interviews to be broadcast to the districts.

But of course, anything that she hears in the Capitol, anything that comes from Snow, Katniss knows is effectively a poison.

It's hardly surprising that they've grown bored of her stubbornness and decided to change the game a little.

Katniss wonders if this is where Johanna has been all the while. She may not like the woman, but the sense of pain that rips through her with each and every scream means she cannot help but sympathize. Nobody deserves torture, and ever since arriving at the Capitol, on both occasions, it seems like that is all she ever sees here. They say it's their way of controlling the districts, but it's still inhumane. They're not animals, they're people and they deserve that respect.

Don't they?

She also finds herself vaguely considering precisely what they are doing to Johanna, and if she will eventually have to endure the same treatment.

Then, it starts.

A scream, a plaintive wail. It's a sound that's all too familiar and it goes straight to Katniss' heart. It's the sound of her sister, Prim, in pain. Prim's screams are wordless, but full of emotion and Katniss feels as though she might as well have received a blow to the head.

Logically, she knows this isn't Prim. She's safe, in District 12. It's probably just a Jabberjay, or at least, a recording of one. But still, it sounds too _real_ to be the mindless mimicking of a mutt. It sounds as though her sister might as well just be on the other side of the wall.

It's enough to cause Katniss to fly to her feet, to try and scale the walls as she looks for another escape. Soon enough, Katniss finds her screams echoing her sister's as they drive her into a fit of rage. But then, this is just what the Capitol wants. They want her to lose it, to drive her insane. Why else would they treat her like this? Even with this knowledge at the forefront of her mind, she cannot stop herself. She wants to find Prim, to comfort her and look after her. Or, alternatively, she wants her bow, or any bow really, so she can send an arrow straight through the stinking mutt's throat in order to silence it.

But of course, she can do neither. She cannot even escape out of this prison cell.

In the end, people, dressed in white, come. They restrain her, but she continues to fight against them. She's tied down to a board, but still, the sounds of Prim's screams echo in her mind. Tears stream down her face as she tries to resist.

But she cannot resist the needle piercing her fragile skin.

She cannot resist the lure of sleep after the drugs get into her system.

The dreams are just as bad, if not worse.

Now, she can _see_ Prim suffering as well as hear her.

Frantically, Katniss calls out her name, makes foolish promises which she knows she cannot keep. She begs Gale, Peeta, somebody, _anybody_ to help her, to help her sister. To stop all this nonsense. Even in her dreams, she's restrained and she tries to fight against them to no avail. Nothing stops her from seeing her sister being tortured a matter of meters away. Nothing stops her from hearing the screams echo in her mind.

Katniss screws her eyes tightly shut to try and block it away.

When she opens them, she's surrounded by whiteness. She's back in her cage and she's awake again.

There's silence once more.

Eventually, the sound of approaching footsteps breaks up the monotony and she shudders in revulsion when she sees Snow staring down at her. His snakelike lips move, but she cannot catch the words. She doesn't want to catch them, either.

"I need an answer, Miss Everdeen," he eventually states when his patience is quite obviously wearing thin.

"I'll do it."

"You'll say exactly what's asked of you?"

She nods frenetically. Considering what's just happened, she'd agree to anything to never have to endure _that_ again.

Once, people had always described her as being the strong one.

After all she's been through, now, she's not so sure.


End file.
